That night, Tang Coco tasted bliss and ache, like lying on silk spread over thorns under a milk-white moon.

Sharing a pillow with a beauty like Ye Yiyi was sunshine on snow, impossible not to enjoy, yet the warmth burned.

She hadn’t expected Ye Yiyi, all soft manners by day, to sleep like a storm-tossed cat knocking over vases.

She finally understood why Ye Yiyi’s bedroom hoarded so many plush dolls, like a small forest of stuffed sentries.

Last night, Ye Yiyi forgot Coco was a patient and treated her like a ragdoll, a tide pulling her off a quiet shore.

At first it was fine—the bed was wide as a lake, and the two kept a polite, river-still distance.

Before Coco even drifted off, Ye Yiyi sprawled over her, half her body like warm sand pressing down.

Arms and thighs grew restless, brushing like willow branches in wind, and Coco’s fragile heart thudded like a trapped sparrow.

Worse, she had no strength to push the tide back, like a reed bending under rain.

“Mmm—so tasty—” Ye Yiyi murmured, her dream-voice like a kitten purring by a stove.

Coco froze, a cold sweat rising like frost over her back under summer sheets.

She didn’t rest; she withered further by dawn, like a flower that drank moonlight instead of dew.

So morning bloomed into chaos.

“Coco, Coco, I—I’m sorry, I… I…” Ye Yiyi stood at the bedside, fingers worrying her hem like moths at paper.

Coco felt tired first, then spoke, her voice a thin thread. “Hey… why apologize? Didn’t you say we don’t need that between us?”

She lay there pale as rice paper, eyes open without strength, like shutters rattling in wind.

“Mm…” Ye Yiyi’s guilt hung like mist over a pond.

“It’s fine, I’m okay, Yiyi-jie. I’m hungry,” Coco said, need surfacing like a small fish breaking water.

Seeing this flustered girl, Coco couldn’t match her to last night’s reckless tide, like sunlight denying last night’s storm.

“Mm… oh! Okay, I’ll go get you food right now!” Ye Yiyi blurted, grabbing her jacket like a bird snatching twig and darting out.

She left Coco staring speechless, like a lantern left lit in daylight.

“System… forget it.” Coco watched the white ceiling, a winter sky without birds, and the impulse to use her Anomaly Power cooled.

She felt eagerness first, then caution, the old doctor’s words ringing like a bell in fog, warning of heavy consequences.

If anything else went wrong now, the price would hit like a falling tree, so she chose to be still.

“Ah…” She sighed, a reed sound on a quiet bank, and tried to lift the quilt to sit.

After a few tries, she learned she couldn’t even lift the quilt, like a feather suddenly cast in iron.

“Mm…” She pouted, berry-sweet and helpless, thinking this body was fragile as spun sugar.

Click. The door opened with a camera’s snap, and Coco startled, thinking breakfast had flown back too fast.

“Yo—awake this early already?” The voice wasn’t Ye Yiyi’s; it carried a mischievous lilt like bells tugged by a breeze.

Coco turned with effort, like a sunflowers’ slow follow, and saw Li Muyan approaching step by step.

Black pleated skirt like a raven’s wing, black knee boots like night reeds, red handbag a single plum in snow.

“What are you doing here?” Coco asked, surprise first, the words falling like pebbles to a pond.

“Hm? What’d you say? Louder.” Li Muyan cupped her ear, teasing like a cat tapping a dangling string.

Coco went quiet; they were alone, and the silence said Li Muyan could hear fine, like an owl in dusk.

Deciding to ignore her, Coco turned back to the window, a tired leaf seeking sunlight.

“Ooh, ooh—mad at me already,” Li Muyan sang, setting down her bag with a sigh like settling wind.

She hauled a chair over and sat, movements easy as a drifting cloud.

“So—this morning I went home, found the place empty, then called Yiyi and learned you two were here,” she said, words neat as folded paper.

“Oh.” Coco’s answer was a droplet, light and weak, sinking without ripple.

“Hey, look over here.” Her tone tugged like a velvet string.

Coco didn’t answer, her quiet a wall of bamboo.

“Turn this way,” Li Muyan coaxed, voice warm as tea.

“What for?” Coco gave in and turned slowly, like a door on tired hinges.

“How’d you end up like this? Looking at you… did something happen last night?” Li Muyan leaned in, eyes bright as stars in a winter pool.

Coco glared, a candle flame flicking, and tried to turn away again like a shy tide.

“Hey, hey—don’t hide.” Li Muyan reached out, palm soft as silk, and steadied Coco’s face with a feather touch.

“What are you doing!” Coco’s anger came first, but the force wasn’t there, a drum skinned too thin.

“Aiya—looks serious, huh? Where’s that little wildcat who always yowls at me?” Li Muyan’s tone curled like smoke over a brazier.

Her fingers kneaded Coco’s cheek, slow and gentle, like warming dough in morning light.

“You—take… take your hand away.” Coco’s protest tripped, a sparrow missing a branch.

“Heh, how about this—let the expert give you a checkup,” Li Muyan said, grinning like a fox under bamboo.

Coco startled, fear pricking like nettles—was this she-wolf planning to pounce on a wounded lamb?

Li Muyan ignored Coco’s furious, adorable look, and reached for the quilt, fingers drifting slow as snowflakes to tease.

Coco had no way to stop her; she cursed Li Muyan a thousand times in her heart, like stones skipped on a lake.

The quilt lifted and revealed an oversized white tee and gray cotton shorts, soft as clouds over stone.

Because Coco’s condition was special, no one forced a hospital gown, a rule bent like willow to spare pain.

Last night, Ye Yiyi changed her into this for comfort, and Coco could only lie there, helpless as a fallen kite.

“Mm… looks like no external injuries,” Li Muyan said, gaze focused like a physician weighing a pulse.

Her composure only stoked Coco’s anger, a red thread tightening in the loom.

“But what if there’re little wounds under the clothes, the kind that hide like minnows?” Li Muyan tilted her head, eyes skimming like swallows over water.

Her hand slid toward the hem of Coco’s shirt, the motion a slow tide reaching sand.

“Hey, hey! Don’t—you dare!” Panic flared first; Coco struggled up, trembling like a leaf in sudden wind.

Sweat beaded on her forehead, a bright dew trembling under noon.

“Uh… is that necessary… such a big reaction? It’s not like I haven’t looked before…” Li Muyan’s joke faltered, the string gone taut.

Seeing Coco shake, she knew the tease had gone too far, mercy landing like shade over heat.

She stopped, pulled the quilt back up, and tucked it soft as moss, then sat in the chair again.

Coco relaxed and sank back, breath quick as a fluttering finch, chest rising and falling like small waves under moon.

“Ya! Muyan, you got here so fast!” a voice called from the door, bright as a bell tossed by spring wind.